Beyond the Global Health Experience
Fulbright Scholars
Anjalee Bhuyan (Fulbright-Fogarty Public Health Fellow – Nepal, 2025-2026)
As a Fulbright-Fogarty Public Helath Fellow, Anjalee aims to integrate the cross-cultural mission of the U.S. Fulbright Program with the global health research priorities of the NIH Fogarty International Center. Her project focuses on assessing chronic health risks associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure from brick kiln emissions in Bhaktapur, Nepal. This work builds on the parent Brick Kiln Project — a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital — which investigates the health impacts of brick kiln pollution on workers. In Nepal, over 200,000 brick kiln workers are routinely exposed to harmful pollutants such as silica dust, PM2.5 and PAHs. Anjalee's study aims to better understand the specific role of PAHs in contributing to these health risks.
Beyond the main project, she has also been exploring her interest in ophthalmology at the Itahari Global Eye Hospital and journaling her experiences in Nepal for the fifth grade students where she attended school through the Reach the World program.
Outside of the office, Anjalee has been exploring the historic city of Bhaktapur and the greater Kathmandu Valley. She visited Swayambhu Nath Stupa in Kathmandu, also known as the Monkey Temple, tried pottery in Bhaktapur’s Pottery Square, and started learning the bansuri, a traditional bamboo flute (she started playing flute when she was 8!). She has also enjoyed participating in the many festivals in Bhaktapur, trying new Nepali foods and drinking lots of chia (tea)!
Read more about Anjalee.
Mathew Mitchell (Fulbright Research Scholar – Hungary, 2025-2026)
Currently based in Budapest, Mathew is working across three Semmelweis-affiliated hospitals, contributing to multiple clinical research projects at the intersection of vascular surgery, otorhinolaryngology, microbiology, and global health. His primary work involves investigating the relationship between the oral microbiome, periodontal disease, and carotid plaque vulnerability, as well as coordinating a multicenter study on oral microbiome-associated complications in trans-carotid aortic valve replacement. He is additionally collaborating on emerging projects in head and neck oncology, and infectious disease. Outside the clinical setting, he has been engaging in cultural diplomacy with other Fulbright scholars and local Hungarians, including visits to national research institutions and cultural sites.
Drexel MD/PhD student Shawn Joshi received a Fulbright Scholarship to study the use of portable brain imaging to assess the extent of impact of developmental coordination disorder on motor cognition. He attended Oxford University and was mentored by Professor Helen Dawes at the Oxford Institute for Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Research. Learn more about Shawn's experience.
Shawn was one of eight students and alumni from Drexel who were offered grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in 2017. Read more.
Seyi Aderotoye received a scholarship through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, to study sickle cell disorder and genotype errors in Nigeria. The findings from this study successfully launched a discussion among the medical community in Lagos. Learn more about Seyi's experience.
Additional Global Health Training
Some students take their global health experiences a step further with additional time studying abroad.
Sebastien Trott took a leave of absence between his third and fourth years of the MD program to complete a master's in global health at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Learn more about his experience.
Global Health Student Publications
A Glimpse into the Care of Diabetic Patients in Tokyo, Japan Through the Educational Hospitalization Program
Hirotaka Nakagawa, Nielufar Varjavand, MD, and Yukiko Onishi, MD, PhD
The Journal of Global Health, Vol. 8, No. 1: Spring 2018
Read about Hirotaka's global health experience
Global Health Presentations at Discovery Day
Global health students often share research they completed during their experiences at Discovery Day, the College of Medicine's annual day of research.
2024
Drexel MD students Emmanuella Owusu-Ampaw and Basira Iginla at Discovery Day.
2023
2022
Factors Associated with the Initiation and Continuation of Breastfeeding Up to Four Months in Consuelo, Dominican Republic
Anjalee Bhuyan, MD ’26
Medical Ethnobotany in San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala
Austin Iglesias, MD ’25
Jennifer Romeo, MD ’26
Ashley Ortiz, MS applied behavior analysis ’23
Read about these students' global health experience
Evaluating Language Competency After a Medical Spanish Immersion Program
Victoria Kaestner, MD ’25, and Julianne Meany, MD ’25
Effect of Education on Adherence to Recommended Prenatal Practices in the Indigenous Communities of Bocas Del Toro, Panama
Erin Kelly, MD ’25
Sabrina Johnson, MD ’25
Read about these students' global health experience
An Intersectional Analysis of Quantitative Patient-Centered Care Metrics and Qualitative Themes in the Healthcare Decision-Making Practices Among Fistula Surgery Candidates in Kenya
Alyson Kim, MD ’24
Excess Mortality Among Asians in California During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Harry Lin, MD ’25
Tramadol and Other Opioid Use Among Individuals With Substance Use Disorders in Lagos, Nigeria
Simone Udeh, MD ’25
State and Structure of Healthcare in Uzbekistan
Kamol Usmonov, MD ’24
2021
2020
A Barrier Analysis Evaluating the Obstacles and Perceptions Regarding Handwashing at Critical Times in Chongwe, Zambia
Katherine Boyd – read about Katherine's global health experience
Geographic Health Inequities in the Philippines: Rural vs. Urban Health
Courtney DiSangro
Presentation from summer project in Lesotho with WASH-Dornsife Scholar's Program
Sachin Gandhi – read about Sachin's global health experience
2019
Conference Presentations
At the 15th Annual Drexel Student Conference on Global Challenges on May 19, 2022, the College of Medicine was well-represented. Global health student Thayjas Patil presented "Access to and Interaction With German Mental Healthcare Services by Local Refugee Populations in Urban Settings: a Multi-case Study From Berlin." Benjamin Haslund-Gourley, Microbiology & PhD student, and Swaksha Rachuri, MD/PhD student, presented "Microgreens Employed as a Tool to Educate Patients About Prevention of Diet-Related Disease." View a recording of the session.
At Drexel's 13th Annual Drexel Student Conference on Global Challenges on February 27, 2020, two global health students gave oral presentations. Christiana Obeng spoke about her time in Lesotho; her talk was titled “Sustainability of WASH Infrastructure in Lesotho: Observations of Attitudes of the Basotho and Their Impact on Project Longevity.” Katherine Boyd presented “A Barrier Analysis Evaluating the Obstacles and Perceptions Regarding Handwashing at Critical Times in Chongwe, Zambia” about her time in Zambia. View a recording of the conference.
After her time in Honduras in 2017, Shraddha Damaraju was eager to complete another global health experience. She stayed in Philadelphia this time, working on a project focused on naloxone distribution in 2019.
She presented about her experience at Drexel's 13th Annual Drexel Student Conference on Global Challenges on February 27, 2020. Her talk was "Community-Driven Solutions to Global Challenges: Naloxone Distribution in Philadelphia Communities." View a recording of the conference.
The 12th Annual Student Conference on Global Challenges was held on February 28, 2109. Second-year MD student Margot Debrabandere presented “An Explorative Study Evaluating the Impact of World Vison Swaziland’s HIV prevention Program.” First-year MD student Kathleen Healey spoke about “Defining Professionalism in Medicine: The Ethics of Refugee Health Care.” Aleesha Shaik, fourth-year MD student, presented “Unbundling Maternal and Infant Mortality in South Asia.” Jessica Pawly, second-year MD student, presented “Linking Community Empowerment Programs and Social Change: A Case Study of Tostan International in Senegal.”
At the 11th Annual Student Conference on Global Challenges, held on March 1, 2018, several global health students presented about their experiences. Roxanne Javadi attended to Geneva through the Duke Policy Program. She presented "Mass Drug Administration for Neglected Tropical Diseases: Benefits Versus Risks for Global Health in the 21st Century." Alyssa Mezochow, who obtained a full scholarship through the CDC for research in Ghana, presented her poster on “Surveying HIV Healthcare in Western Ghana.” Nimretha Sandhu did a virtual internship with a startup company in India, where she developed their health content. She presented her abstract, “International development of culturally specific reproductive health curriculum to develop lasting behavior change and improve health outcomes
Kelcie Lushefski and Kevin Priddy, fourth-year medical students, and Nielufar Varjavand, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of Global Health Education, authored an abstract, “The Brain Drain and Its Adverse Effects on Foreign Healthcare: A Firsthand Experience,” which was presented at the American Academy of Family Physicians Global Health Summit, held September 13-15, 2018, in Jacksonville, Florida. The focus of their work was transnational migration of physicians, specifically physician emigration from South Africa and Sri Lanka, and its implications for the home countries. Based on their poster abstract, the group was also invited to give an oral presentation in a session called “Ideas Worth Sharing,” for which six abstracts with unique ideas were chosen.
Laura Roper, a third-year medical student, presented "First Responder Training in Kiburara, Uganda" as part of the global health panel at the 9th Annual Student Conference on Global Challenges: Sustainability, held at Drexel on February 25, 2016. Roper visited Kiburara in 2010 for the first-responder pilot project. Uganda had no organized system for providing pre-hospital care to its citizens. The goal was to empower the community to take charge in emergency situations by training a trainer who could then pass on skills and knowledge. One local individual received the equivalent of U.S. first-responder training tailored to the needs of Kiburara. Upon completion of the training, that person was given two emergency duffel bags with materials needed for pre-hospital care, as well as instructor manuals. By that time, the trainee already had two more individuals signed up for first responder training.
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